Worldwide Exchange scheme success

Posted on 18 June 2012

Linguistics student James Britton will spend his second year studying at The University of Hong Kong.

James Britton

Linguistics undergraduate James Britton has been selected through the Worldwide Exchange scheme to spend the 2012-13 academic year studying abroad.

Our undergraduate admissions tutor, Dr Sam Hellmuth, speaks for the department: "We are excited that James will be representing us and the University of York in Hong Kong, as an exchange student for the full duration of his second year of study. All students on three year degree programmes are eligible to apply to study abroad, for all or part of their second year, before returning to York for their final year. James is one of our mature students who will be an excellent ambassador for us in Hong Kong. He succeeded in this tough competition to earn a place on the exciting exchange programme and his success is well-deserved."

James himself has lots to say:

"After a fantastic introduction to Linguistics from the Department here at the University of York, I am due to spend my second year at The University of Hong Kong, where I hope to further my knowledge in the core subjects I have studied so far. As a student of Linguistics, my interests are not only in my native language, English, but in the study of all languages and varieties, and this is one of the reasons I chose to apply for a year abroad.

I have loved my first year at York and although I will be sad to be away for a year, and miss out on some modules offered here but not in Hong Kong, I am also very excited to have the opportunity to study the subject from another perspective. Apart from the excellent range of modules on offer at Hong Kong, there is also the unique opportunity to learn Cantonese, the native language of the region, which is still widely spoken there despite the influence of both English and of Mandarin spoken in Mainland China. The situation in Hong Kong is a good example of how important particular languages can be to a person’s identity, and I hope it will prove interesting not only learn some of the native language, but to discover the attitudes of the people who live there and speak it every day.

Visiting China was one of the main reasons I decided to return to education after several years of working full time. Linguistics has fascinated me ever since studying English Language at A level, but my travels are what inspired me to pursue a degree and with a view to purusing a career in the Far East teaching English as a foreign language. China was a really amazing place for me on both a historical and a linguistic level. It is a vast country, with many unique dialects that are often not intelligible between regions and a complex written language that goes back thousands of years. On returning I began learning Mandarin Chinese part-time here at the University with the Languages for All team (something I would recommend to anyone studying at York), before applying through UCAS to study Linguistics full-time.

It is thanks to all the staff here at the Department of Language and Linguistic Science that I am now able to take one step further towards achieving what I set out to do. Ever since my first attendance at an Open Day, they have been tremendously helpful and supportive - advising me on how to earn a place at York and also providing engaging and challenging teaching throughout my first year. Without this, I would not be doing what I am doing."

Worldwide Exchange scheme success

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